Official rules

1. Organizer

Absorb the Wave (the "Contest") is organized by BIRDSIGHT SAS, trading as Qovery, a French simplified joint-stock company registered under number 852 571 108, with headquarters at 128 rue de la Boétie, 75008 Paris, France ("Qovery"). The Contest is a game of skill. No purchase or payment is needed to enter or to win.

2. Who can enter

• Individuals aged 18 or over, playing alone or in a team of up to 3 players.
• The Contest is open to residents of every country of the European Union, the rest of the European Economic Area, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada (Quebec included), and of other countries where it is legal.
• It is not open to residents of, or teams playing from: Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Russia, Belarus, Brazil, and the regions of Ukraine occupied by Russia (Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson). It is also not open to anyone on an EU, UK, US or UN sanctions list. The Contest is void wherever the law prohibits it.
• Employees of Qovery, their household members, and anyone involved in running the Contest can play but can't win a prize.
• A player belongs to one team per season. Each team plays one league per season.

3. How to enter

Sign in with a Qovery account (free, no card needed), create or join a team, and launch at least one ranked run during a season. Qovery hosts each team's app and pays for the infrastructure. Infra bills and money lost shown in the game are game numbers: nobody is charged.

4. Seasons

Each calendar month is a season, from 00:00:00 UTC on the 1st to 23:59:59 UTC on the last day. Ranked runs started during a season count for that season. Each team can launch up to 3 ranked runs a day, and its best run of the season counts in its league.

5. How winners are chosen

• Each run is scored by the game as described in the FAQ: fast requests earn points, slow and lost requests cost points, and the total is divided by the infrastructure cost. A run over the league budget is disqualified.
• Each league has its own monthly ranking. Ties go to the faster absorb time, then to the earlier run.
• Places 1 to 10 of each league earn 25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1 points, multiplied by the league weight: Beginner ×1, Intermediate ×2, Expert ×3, KEDA ×4.
• The three teams with the most points in a season win that season's prizes. Ties go to the team with the higher league weight, then the higher league score.
• Qovery verifies the top teams before announcing them (see section 7). If a team is disqualified, the next team moves up.

6. Prizes

Each season:

• 1st place: 3 months of the Qovery Scale plan and a $500 gift card.
• 2nd place: 3 months of the Qovery Growth plan and a $300 gift card.
• 3rd place: 3 months of the Qovery Starter plan and a $100 gift card.

The plans are described on qovery.com/pricing. The plan months are applied to one Qovery organization chosen by the team, within 12 months of the announcement. They don't include cloud provider costs, add-ons or usage beyond the plan's allowances. If the winning team's company is already a paying Qovery customer, the plan months don't apply and are not replaced by a credit or any other benefit; the team still gets its gift card.

The gift card is one per team, in US dollars or the local equivalent. It is sent by email as a digital gift card or prepaid card, chosen by the winner from the options available in their country, for example an Amazon gift card or a prepaid Visa card. Prizes can't be transferred or exchanged for cash. Winners are responsible for any taxes on their prize and may be asked for the tax forms the law requires, for example a W-9 form in the United States. Qovery may replace a prize with one of equal or greater value if it can't be delivered.

7. Fair play and disqualification

Qovery may disqualify a team, cancel its runs or withhold a prize if it:

• Tries to reach its environment outside the control room, or to detect or filter the load generator.
• Changes settings during a ranked run, or uses several accounts or teams to get more ranked runs.
• Attacks, overloads or tries to break the Contest, Qovery's services or other teams' environments.
• Gives false information, or breaks these rules or Qovery's Terms of Service.

Qovery checks the runs of the top teams before announcing winners. Its decisions on scores and disqualifications are final.

8. Announcing winners

Qovery contacts the winning teams at the email of their Qovery account within 7 days after the season ends. A team that doesn't answer within 14 days, or can't meet these rules, loses the prize, and it goes to the next team. Winners are announced on the leaderboard and may be named in Qovery's communications.

9. What is public

Team names, company names (if given), leagues, scores, ranks and the results shown on the leaderboard are public. After a season ends, the settings of its top 10 teams in each league are published in the season debrief. Don't put personal data in a team name. Qovery processes players' data as described in its Privacy Policy.

10. Changes and liability

Qovery may change, pause or end the Contest, or a season, for technical, legal or fairness reasons. Changes are posted on this page and don't apply to a season already over. If an incident on Qovery's side affects a ranked run, Qovery may cancel that run for every team or give the affected teams a new one. To the extent the law allows, Qovery isn't liable for losses linked to taking part, beyond the value of the prizes.

11. Law and contact

These rules are governed by French law, and any dispute goes to the courts of Paris, France, subject to the mandatory rights of consumers where they live. Questions: qovery.com/contact.